Guest guest Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 http://ae.boston.com/dining/stories/raw_talent_080702.html Raw talent Finding therapy in uncooked food By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent, 8/7/2002 MARBLEHEAD - ''Live food for live bodies'' has a ring to it. But far from the images of dripping meat and fresh-killed prey that this slogan may evoke, the ''live'' food regime being touted now is the latest trend in extreme vegetarianism. Hollywood luminaries such as Woody Harrelson have jumped on the program, which is based on a vegan diet (no animal products and no dairy) along with foods that are never heated above 118 degrees. But even if a few dishes are actually cooked - by marinating or slow dehydration, for instance - this live or so-called ''raw'' diet is hot. ''It's not an easy choice, but for me it's the best choice,'' says Sharon Wohl, owner of Body & Soul here, a health food store that now features a small raw-foods cafe. ''I feel like I'm being true to myself, true to my environment, true to my customers, and true to my store.'' ''There was something about it that made sense to me,'' says vegetarian chef Allisa Cohen of Lowell, whose self-published book and DVD, ''In The Raw,'' will be out this fall. Featuring vegetables and fruits, sprouted grains and seeds, the diet is somewhat more restrictive than other vegetarian disciplines. Its ''pasta'' is likely to be shredded vegetables, ever so gently warmed. Its ''milk'' and ''cream'' are based on juice or nut milk. But, adherents say, the payoff is commensurately large. The theory is simple: By eating foods in their natural state, the body retains more nutrients. Cooking food, the diet's proponents say, destroys not only heat-sensitive vitamins, but also enzymes that exist in fruits and vegetables' natural state. ''When you eat enzyme-rich food, food consumes itself,'' says Sue Brown, chef of the pocket-sized Basil Chef Cuisine, which has taken over the back kitchen and juice bar of Body & Soul. ''If you eat a living- and raw-foods meal versus a big, heavy cooked-food meal, you feel it.'' She refers to the logy feeling that follows a traditional holiday feast. ''That's pretty much all the enzymes in your body being drawn away ... to assist you in digesting that meal.'' Brown speaks with confidence, having been certified in this diet through the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute, based in Fort Bragg, Calif. In fact, she teaches that the 118-degree mark reported in recent New York Times and Time magazine articles should be lowered to 105 degrees, to make sure none of those enzymes are lost. Like her growing community, Brown firmly believes in the curative powers of the raw diet. She had suffered from colitis, a debilitatingly painful intestinal disorder that is usually controlled in part by the avoidance of raw foods. Wohl, too, was being treated for the disorder before adopting the raw diet. Both say they have been off their medications and have not had recurrences of the disease since they changed their eating habits. Fibromyalgia plagued Cohen, the vegetarian cookbook author, she says, before she switched to living foods. She also says that the regimen improved her eyesight to the point where she no longer needs to wear glasses. ''You never feel healthier than when you eat raw foods,'' she says. That could be the placebo effect, nutritionists say. If you believe you're doing something to improve your life, then you can feel better as a result. ''Fifty percent of the population responds to the placebo effect,'' says Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietitian and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Zanecosky and her colleagues cast a wary eye on health claims such as the one Cohen makes, pointing out that while heat alters the shape of some enzymes, it also makes many nutrients more accessible to the human body. Vitamin A, which benefits eyesight, is one such nutrient; lycopene, which is being studied for possible cancer-preventing properties, is another. ''It's all still the same basic chemical compounds,'' Zanecosky says. ''The only thing that might be in `live' food and not in cooked is bacteria!'' Still, Zanecosky and her colleagues are not completely dismissive. ''Anything that gets people to eat more fruits and vegetables isn't all bad,'' she notes. Critics of the live movement are likely to be those who find the diet difficult in social situations. When the family grill is lit, tensions can rise. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is cave in, says Body & Soul's Wohl. ''We just had a barbecue for July 4th and I had a Hebrew National frank on Wonder Bread,'' she says. ''And I got a bellyache.'' The solution, local adherents say, is to focus on salads. Nationally, diners have more options. In Marin County, Calif., chef Roxanne Klein offers a gourmet take on the diet at her namesake restaurant, Roxanne's. Klein learned of the diet 41/2 years ago, when she met Woody Harrelson while traveling in Thailand. She's not immune to the health claims, asserting that she needs ''two or three hours less sleep each night'' since going raw, and that ''I haven't had a cold since I've been eating this way.'' For Klein, however, the focus is on the food and ''maintaining the lusciousness of the season.'' Admittedly, that's easier in California than in New England for most months of the year. To spread her gospel, Klein is collaborating with Charlie Trotter, the award-winning Chicago chef, on a living diet cookbook, ''Raw,'' to be published by Ten Speed Press in January. Featuring a portobello mushroom ''pave'' with white asparagus vinaigrette and curried crepes with lemon-yogurt sauce, it promises indulgences that the strictness of the regimen would seem to deny. Without heat to bring out or meld flavors, quality ingredients are essential. For Klein, however, much of this uncooked cuisine is common sense. ''Go to your local market,'' she advises. ''Really smell the food that you're going to buy. Try to deal with local produce.'' Despite its elevation in the Hollywood health hierarchy of the West Coast, this diet has its roots here in Boston. It was downtown, in the 1950s, that a Lithuanian immigrant named Ann Wigmore pioneered an early natural foods movement, proselytizing about the healthful qualities of wheat grass and other uncooked foods. She and a follower, Viktoras Kulvinskas, founded the Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston in 1956. Now based in West Palm Beach, the institute lives on as a source of inspiration to the living foods movement. But the roots go deeper, some of the movement's proponents say, calling the diet biblical or primeval. Returning to raw foods, they say, is a way of rediscovering a kind of culinary purity long buried under the effluvia of civilization. ''We've been here'' for at least a million years, says Brown, the Marblehead chef. ''Cooking and fire is a fairly recent invention.'' For those seeking the imprimatur of time, the diet's history can be traced back even further. ''Out of all the species on Earth, only one cooks its foods,'' Brown notes. ''Could we be right and all the other species wrong?'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 Thx Fraggle! you find some great articles! And this is one I am particularly interested in exploring. nikki , EBbrewpunx@c... wrote: > http://ae.boston.com/dining/stories/raw_talent_080702.html > > Raw talent > > Finding therapy in uncooked food > > By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent, 8/7/2002 > > MARBLEHEAD - ''Live food for live bodies'' has a ring to it. But far from > the images of dripping meat and fresh-killed prey that this slogan may > evoke, the ''live'' food regime being touted now is the latest trend in > extreme vegetarianism. > > Hollywood luminaries such as Woody Harrelson have jumped on the program, > which is based on a vegan diet (no animal products and no dairy) along > with foods that are never heated above 118 degrees. But even if a few > dishes are actually cooked - by marinating or slow dehydration, for > instance - this live or so-called ''raw'' diet is hot. > ''It's not an easy choice, but for me it's the best choice,'' says Sharon > Wohl, owner of Body & Soul here, a health food store that now features a > small raw-foods cafe. ''I feel like I'm being true to myself, true to my > environment, true to my customers, and true to my store.'' > ''There was something about it that made sense to me,'' says vegetarian > chef Allisa Cohen of Lowell, whose self-published book and DVD, ''In The > Raw,'' will be out this fall. Featuring vegetables and fruits, sprouted > grains and seeds, the diet is somewhat more restrictive than other > vegetarian disciplines. Its ''pasta'' is likely to be shredded > vegetables, ever so gently warmed. Its ''milk'' and ''cream'' are based > on juice or nut milk. But, adherents say, the payoff is commensurately > large. > The theory is simple: By eating foods in their natural state, the body > retains more nutrients. Cooking food, the diet's proponents say, destroys > not only heat-sensitive vitamins, but also enzymes that exist in fruits > and vegetables' natural state. > ''When you eat enzyme-rich food, food consumes itself,'' says Sue Brown, > chef of the pocket-sized Basil Chef Cuisine, which has taken over the > back kitchen and juice bar of Body & Soul. ''If you eat a living- and > raw-foods meal versus a big, heavy cooked-food meal, you feel it.'' She > refers to the logy feeling that follows a traditional holiday feast. > ''That's pretty much all the enzymes in your body being drawn away ... to > assist you in digesting that meal.'' > Brown speaks with confidence, having been certified in this diet through > the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute, based in Fort Bragg, Calif. In > fact, she teaches that the 118-degree mark reported in recent New York > Times and Time magazine articles should be lowered to 105 degrees, to > make sure none of those enzymes are lost. > Like her growing community, Brown firmly believes in the curative powers > of the raw diet. She had suffered from colitis, a debilitatingly painful > intestinal disorder that is usually controlled in part by the avoidance > of raw foods. > Wohl, too, was being treated for the disorder before adopting the raw > diet. Both say they have been off their medications and have not had > recurrences of the disease since they changed their eating habits. > Fibromyalgia plagued Cohen, the vegetarian cookbook author, she says, > before she switched to living foods. She also says that the regimen > improved her eyesight to the point where she no longer needs to wear > glasses. ''You never feel healthier than when you eat raw foods,'' she > says. > That could be the placebo effect, nutritionists say. If you believe > you're doing something to improve your life, then you can feel better as > a result. > ''Fifty percent of the population responds to the placebo effect,'' says > Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietitian and a spokeswoman for the > American Dietetic Association. > Zanecosky and her colleagues cast a wary eye on health claims such as the > one Cohen makes, pointing out that while heat alters the shape of some > enzymes, it also makes many nutrients more accessible to the human body. > Vitamin A, which benefits eyesight, is one such nutrient; lycopene, which > is being studied for possible cancer-preventing properties, is another. > ''It's all still the same basic chemical compounds,'' Zanecosky says. > ''The only thing that might be in `live' food and not in cooked is > bacteria!'' > Still, Zanecosky and her colleagues are not completely dismissive. > ''Anything that gets people to eat more fruits and vegetables isn't all > bad,'' she notes. > Critics of the live movement are likely to be those who find the diet > difficult in social situations. When the family grill is lit, tensions > can rise. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is cave in, says Body & > Soul's Wohl. ''We just had a barbecue for July 4th and I had a Hebrew > National frank on Wonder Bread,'' she says. ''And I got a bellyache.'' > The solution, local adherents say, is to focus on salads. > Nationally, diners have more options. In Marin County, Calif., chef > Roxanne Klein offers a gourmet take on the diet at her namesake > restaurant, Roxanne's. Klein learned of the diet 41/2 years ago, when she > met Woody Harrelson while traveling in Thailand. She's not immune to the > health claims, asserting that she needs ''two or three hours less sleep > each night'' since going raw, and that ''I haven't had a cold since I've > been eating this way.'' > For Klein, however, the focus is on the food and ''maintaining the > lusciousness of the season.'' Admittedly, that's easier in California > than in New England for most months of the year. > To spread her gospel, Klein is collaborating with Charlie Trotter, the > award-winning Chicago chef, on a living diet cookbook, ''Raw,'' to be > published by Ten Speed Press in January. Featuring a portobello mushroom > ''pave'' with white asparagus vinaigrette and curried crepes with > lemon-yogurt sauce, it promises indulgences that the strictness of the > regimen would seem to deny. > Without heat to bring out or meld flavors, quality ingredients are > essential. For Klein, however, much of this uncooked cuisine is common > sense. ''Go to your local market,'' she advises. ''Really smell the food > that you're going to buy. Try to deal with local produce.'' > Despite its elevation in the Hollywood health hierarchy of the West > Coast, this diet has its roots here in Boston. > It was downtown, in the 1950s, that a Lithuanian immigrant named Ann > Wigmore pioneered an early natural foods movement, proselytizing about > the healthful qualities of wheat grass and other uncooked foods. She and > a follower, Viktoras Kulvinskas, founded the Hippocrates Health Institute > in Boston in 1956. Now based in West Palm Beach, the institute lives on > as a source of inspiration to the living foods movement. > But the roots go deeper, some of the movement's proponents say, calling > the diet biblical or primeval. Returning to raw foods, they say, is a way > of rediscovering a kind of culinary purity long buried under the effluvia > of civilization. ''We've been here'' for at least a million years, says > Brown, the Marblehead chef. ''Cooking and fire is a fairly recent > invention.'' > For those seeking the imprimatur of time, the diet's history can be > traced back even further. ''Out of all the species on Earth, only one > cooks its foods,'' Brown notes. ''Could we be right and all the other > species wrong?'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 and i even find time to work ten hour days, go to shows, parties, read.. i think i must have cloned myself..either that or i'm burning up all my lives now..ah well..wot good is livin if yer not enjoying yerself? cheers fraggle *16 trapped in a 9 million yr old body* nikki_mackovitch " <nikkimack wrote: >Thx Fraggle! > >you find some great articles! >And this is one I am particularly interested in exploring. > >nikki > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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